Piercing Whispers
by Ratany
Summary: Sequel to Silent Echoes. Barb had far too much practice at bedside vigils for one lifetime. Dick was not allowed into Bruce's hospital room. After many years and many heartaches, they find time to talk.


Piercing Whispers  
By Ratgirl01

Notes: This is set almost directly after _Silent Echoes_. You really will not understand what is going on at first if you haven't read that story.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to DC and whoever else owns DC.

**.:BB:.**

"No, Dick, I absolutely forbid it."

"But-"

"No, you almost got caught earlier and I can't let you take that sort of chance."

"But no one found me, I was fine."

"That time, but you have no guarantee that it won't happen again."

"I'll be extra careful next time, no one will know."

"You fell asleep. What does that tell you?"

"That you should let me drink coffee instead of orange juice."

"It will stunt your growth."

"Ouch, straight to the heart, Barb."

"You know that's not the point. You can't keep going like this."

"He wouldn't have done any less for me."

"Yes, but he wouldn't have fallen asleep in the hospital room after he had broken in. Instead, he would become obsessive and thrown himself into his work to avoid contact with anyone who reminded him of you. It's just the way Bruce handles his pain, and no matter how alike you two are, you don't have to jeopardize your health for him because he would for you."

"Is that what happened last time?"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, did I ruin your lives? Was my disappearance what caused Bruce to turn out like that? Is it somehow my fault that everyone isn't sitting here with us at this table outside this redundant, unopened pancake house at three in the morning worrying about Bruce?"

"Dick, how can you say that?"

"Because I don't know what else to think. No one has told me anything to contradict my theory and something that Terry said-"

"Terry knows nothing about the situation."

"Yet another problem. He doesn't even know anything about the past, he knew nothing about me other than my name. What if I really hadn't been me? You can't expect everything in the past to stay hidden; it might be too late next time if something else that only we know about comes looking for Batman."

"He doesn't need to know everything."

"But he needs to know something, as do I. So are you going to tell me what happened, or are you going to let me wallow in my guilt?"

"There is really nothing to feel guilty about . . . it's not your fault anyway-"

"I just need to know the truth, then I can decide. I can't help feeling that I started something. I never imagined the future to be like this."

"I don't think anyone's life turns out how they planned. You do deserve a history lesson, but later."

"Please, Barb, I have to know."

"If you continue to use all your charms on me like those eyes, I'll become immune to them soon."

"But you aren't now."

"Yes, but, well . . . Bruce didn't waste anytime before he set out after you. He just sorta dumped the city on Tim and I - and even then it was mostly just Tim because the kid would always push me to stay at the hospital. It was that way for two weeks. We were waiting for news on you and I was still waiting by Dad's bedside. It wasn't too hard to come up with an alibi for Bruce; we said he went on vacation with twins, but rumors started that his ungrateful ward became envious of Tim and left after a fight with Bruce. You two were never very discreet about your disagreements and people had begun to gossip before. Of course, there were some media gossipers who completely blamed Tim for coming between you and Bruce. Then there was the mysterious disappearance of both Batman and Nightwing to be explained.

"Bruce came back and basically ignored the fact he came home alone. He would never answer our questions about you, only threw himself into his vocation. I was no better off. I . . . I had just lost two people close to me, and I defined myself by that loss as much as he did. But then you understand.

"Batman rarely bothered playing Bruce during that time, and neither of them acknowledged you ever existed. But then one day he, _Bruce Wayne_, lobbies for the statue to be built in Central Gotham Park. We, Tim and I, learned about his plans on the news, like every other common person in Gotham. Perhaps he would've told Alfred, but . . . He gave the appropriate speeches, but there was no pleasing Vicki Vale, and her theories were . . . We thought it was a memorial grave; that he finally came to terms with everything that had happened.

"I suppose we took it as a sign to let you go ourselves. There was the memorial in the cave, to be sure, but seeing Bruce's public memorial, we just thought, no we hoped. Because we needed a sign of hope, so that's what we made it. From this perspective, it seems irrational. I mean, he's an old man now and still never gotten over his parents, to even think that he could get over . . .

"We fooled ourselves until the tenth anniversary, when I intercepted a phone call intended for Bruce . . . about you. I headed off to Columbus before the phone dropped. I was upset with myself for giving up on you and even more upset with Bruce for not saying anything. And Tim? Tim was furious that I didn't contact him until I had already arrived, but he did come. Remember that.

"I don't know how much you know about what happened to you, but I can't explain it myself. I went alone to see you the first time. I had no idea what to expect, but I figured you were there and that's all that mattered.

"In a way, you weren't there at all. It was bad enough looking at you through the machines, but I was also looking through you - like a spirit without a body. I couldn't hear you or touch you and the monitors were the only indication you were actually there. Only Batman knows he he discovered you in the first place, and that is something he will take to . . . It was there that I made the decision to change my life. I had built a comfortable lie around myself. And there are somethings . . . it's like Batman was a reaction to Bruce's pain and those years for me were a reaction to mine. But seeing you forced me to see my lie. And if you ever learn . . . it's not an excuse, just remember that about me during those years.

"But that moment marked the end of the time when Batman and Batgirl flew together. I needed to find my own life and dreams and seeing you made me realize that I wasn't really living for Barbara anymore.

"I made my own way, dedicated myself to my career in law enforcement - a memorial to my own father - and fell in love with Sam. Don't think I never thought about you or visited you, but if I had never moved on, I would've rotted in the cave."

"I wouldn't expect you to do anything for me that would prevent you from living - you had the chance. I didn't. It's that simple."

"No, it wasn't. We made things more complicated then we should've. When Bruce first came back from looking for you, his first goal was to make sure there was no connection between your disappearance and Nightwing's. Tim couldn't fill in because of the size difference, plus Robin still needed to be seen. There was . . . someone that Bruce knew and he filled in. I had to see things for myself and abandoned everyone to do my own search in Fiji. I came up with nothing and returned to find Gotham a mess. Batman was brutal and the new Nightwing was . . . difficult to work with and not quite . . . sane. Tim . . ."

"Tim?"

"That is not my story to tell."

"Is he still alive?"

"Yes."

"Then why haven't we called him. Why isn't he here?"

"I told you, that's not my story. Please, let it go for now."

"But-"

"Please, Dick."

"Will you tell me later?"

"Perhaps, if there is no one else to tell it."

"And Alfred?"

"Poor Alfred."

"Poor Alfred?"

"He lost his sons, Dick. Both of them. And then . . . another time."

"That's a promise I'm holding you to. You tell me all those things and then expect me not to feel guilty. I put you all through such pain and I can't even explain what happened."

"But you didn't force us to react the way we did. We are all given challenges in life and we just weren't prepared."

"But how can you expect me not to see myself as the trigger for everything?"

"Because I don't and you are only going to cause more anguish if you do. The past won't change because we suddenly have you to blame."

"But still-"

"Fine, Dick, you are forgiven for everything that went wrong in the past."

"I know it doesn't work like that."

"How's it supposed to work?"

"I don't know."

"You need proof? Here."

"An envelope?"

"It's what I needed to talk to you about. I found this in the Batcave after . . ."

"Yeah."

"You need to see these. Bruce left them for you."

"Birth certificates?"

"Look at the dates."

"Wait, this is a paper for someone who is-"

"Nine-and-a-half, yep. Welcome to the world, Robert Thomas Grayson."

"Thomas? Well, that's . . . I mean. Huh. Okay, I can handle that. But Robert?"

"Or Bobby, or Bob or Rob-"

"You're liking this too much. But there are two of them?"

"The same, but for twenty-seven year old Robert."

"And that's useful how?"

"Well, we'll have to explain you somehow. You were still twenty-seven before Brother Blood found you. In theory, if we could reverse that, then we'll determine which you to reintroduce you as."

"I could be me again?"

"I don't see why you would want to be, but essentially. If you don't mind being your own child. Did you notice the names of the parents?"

"Richard Grayson and Kory Anders Grayson?"

"I thought you didn't remember who Kory was when I asked."

"I don't. I mean I did . . . sorta . . . after I talked to you. But I don't even know that much about her. Did I ever mention that name to him? How would Bruce-"

"That's why he _is_ Batman. So, what do you remember?"

"Well, if she is who I think she is, then she has a body that a Barbie doll would be envious of."

"Nice to know that you go out with girls on the basis of their personalities."

"I'm an excellent judge of character. I went out with you, didn't I?"

"Awe, that's sweet, but it just sounds really desperate."

"Well, she must've had some figure to still be able to have a child ten years ago."

"More like billionaire playboy's fifty-something, renegade son knocked up some barely-legal tart."

"Joy. Bruce did this without telling anyone."

"And here I was worried about your detective skills."

"So he just assumed you wouldn't . . . He didn't ask if you would . . ."

"Be your mother? I'm married, Dick. I had a public life. People would've noticed something was off."

"But beside that? Barb, I-"

"We both know it's useless to ponder what ifs. You have bigger concerns now. Like this."

"First birth certificates and now his will? This is dated Saturday. You don't think-"

"No, I don't think it's a manipulation or he was planning for this so soon. I think he honestly never had considered another heir."

"Oh."

"You never understood that. I think he would've given anything to prevent himself from dragging you back into his shadow, but he could've never chosen anyone else."

"Tim? Terry?"

"You're not tricking me into talking about Tim. And Terry, well, he was a necessity. Not that he isn't good at the role, but he forced himself into Bruce's life. I know that position well. You were different_._"

"I-"

"It's nothing against you. It just is."

"And how much do I wish I had listened forty years ago."

"I wouldn't have said it then. I didn't understand half as much as I thought I did then, or last week."

"No what ifs then?"

"None."

"Hn. Someone should really tell all this to Terry before he becomes us."

"I did try."

"Ha. I know you, I can see exactly how that went. You acted angry and he acted like a teenager."

"Something you'll be able to relate to in about four years or so, Robbie."

"That's just low."

"Suck it up or you won't last through the surveillance mission I was planning."

"Are you suggesting, Ms. Police Commissioner, a little B and E into a certain hospital room?"

"Of course not. I'm just saying we should protect Bruce in case anyone tries to attack him tonight."

"Right, because that line of reasoning isn't delusional or egotistical or Bat at all."

"Shut up, brat. Put those away, we have places to be tonight."

"Bruce's will. You know, I always thought he'd die with the cowl on."

"A week ago, I would've said he did. Hell, two days ago I would've said he did."

"But?"

"You don't really need me to say it."

"No, I don't. And he's not dead yet."

"He's not."

"I was stalling."

"I know. Dick, I've done the bedside vigil more times then I care to remember. Stalling doesn't help."

"Then what does?"

"The company you keep."

"Then I think I can make it tonight."

"We both can."

**.:BB:.**

This story is followed by _Fragmented Chronologies._**  
**


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